We're supposed to teach selections from Dante's Inferno as a lead-in to the Renaissance, but I think my students actually need to know who Brutus and Cassius are before we talk about how treachery will land you in the 9th level of hell. So, I am attempting to teach Julius Caesar for the first time this year. I usually teach A Midsummer Night's Dream for our Shakespeare unit, but Caesar is more applicable to cross-curricular studies. So, I'm going against what the county says we should teach, and I'm doing what I think is best.
Never having taught this play, I found myself scrambling for lesson ideas. Thankfully, I found a lesson plan database that has been compiled and maintained by the wonderful people at Folger Shakespeare Library. I've adapted some of the lessons from this site already, and they have been great!
For instance, to introduce some of the themes in the book, I used this pre-reading activity. My students broke off into groups and came up with a list of 10 qualities of a good friend and 5 infractions that could end a friendship. Then, we came together as a whole class, and compiled all of the groups' ideas on what our top 10 qualities and top 5 infractions should be. With these lists, we created a "Friendship Constitution" and I made a poster for each class. Each of the classes had similar qualities and infractions, but there were some differences in the particular words they chose, so I typed up a different one for the respective classes. When I showed their posters to them, I said, "We'll use these constitutions to discuss what went wrong in Caesar's friendships that eventually led to his downfall." Everyone wanted to sign their constitutions, so we did that, too. :)
Also, I noticed that Lesson 5 of the Folger lessons focuses on persuasion. I like the lesson they have, but I didn't have time for it. My students do need more information about persuasion, though because they will focus on persuasion next year for the High School Graduation Writing Test. So, I made a handout on which I listed Pathos, Logos, and Ethos; I gave an explanation of each technique; and I gave elements used in each technique. On the back of the handout, I copied Cassius's two speeches to Brutus from Act I, Scene 2 (when he tries to change Brutus's perception of Caesar). Then, I told the students that their task would be to write a chunk paragraph in response to this prompt: Which persuasive technique does Cassius mainly use in his speeches to Brutus in Act I, Scene 2? No, I'll be able to evaluate each students' understanding of the characters and their motivation, organization skills, and level of ability when it comes to analysis. I think chunk writing is going to be of great benefit to their writing and analytical skills!
This week, we only got to Act I, Scene 2. I'm planning on getting through all of Act II next week; but with the long weekend, I don't know if it will happen. Oh well...at least I don't have Benchmark Tests to worry about this semester (the county realized they were ill-prepaired and not a fair measure of student achievement), so I can take my sweet time with Caesar!
I love the Folger. LOVE them. In fact, the director, Barbara Mowat, came to speak my first semester at Auburn and ended up guest lecturing one of my grad classes. I saw her a couple of years later at a Shakespeare Association of America conference, and she remembered me as well as my project for that semester. Such a sweet, intelligent, and kind woman. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to read about your lessons for Caesar. I'm teaching Lear for the first time this semester. I've done Tempest and Othello (the latter being one of my favorite tragedies), but I felt like Lear was a more tragic ruler than Othello, considering he's defeated by his own senility and feeble-mindedness...and then comes to realize his self-defeat at the end of the fifth act (don't they all). I'm still not sure exactly what direction I'll take it, but I like the idea of perusing the Folger's website for lesson plans. I might just have to see what they recommend! :)